Mellanox Technologies, Ltd., a leading supplier of high performance cloud and storage networking solutions, has announced support for Cumulus Linux 3.1 on four new 10/25/50/100 Gb/s Ethernet switch platforms. 

The announcement enables Mellanox, which is distributed in 20 African countries by Networks Unlimited, to accelerate the adoption of Open Networking for customers by offering a complete end-to-end solution of Spectrum-based Ethernet switches that are supported by Cumulus Linux, the best-in-class Open Network Operating System. 

“Customers aspiring to build modern data centres for scale out applications can now standardise their entire switching infrastructure on Mellanox’s Spectrum-based Ethernet switches,” says Amit Katz, vice president worldwide Ethernet switch sales, Mellanox Technologies. “The complete solution now delivers unmatched predictability, packet performance, and the ability to achieve Web-scale IT efficiencies.” 

“Open is the industry standard in modern infrastructure builds,” says William Choe, VP of Products and Alliances, Cumulus Networks. “Together with Mellanox’s range of new switches, Cumulus Linux 3.1 is helping accelerate customers’ move to Web-scale IT by providing them with the choice and agility to create infrastructure that works for them.” 

“With 2.5 times the bandwidth and a nominal price premium over 10 Gigabit Ethernet, 25 Gigabit Ethernet is poised to exceed 10 million annual server-class connections within the next four years,” says Seamus Crehan, president, Crehan Research. “I predict the uptick in 25 Gigabit Ethernet adoption will be significantly faster than it was for either 10 Gigabit Ethernet or 40 Gigabit Ethernet technologies as server vendors introduce 25 Gigabit Ethernet options on numerous existing and upcoming platforms.” 

As the speed of servers increase, and flash-based storage has become mainstream, a growing number of server vendors are offering 25 Gigabit Ethernet NICs as the default I/O option in their servers. In addition to providing future proof connectivity, this enables their customers to avoid the cost and complexity of bundling multiple 10 Gigabit Ethernet links. The Mellanox SN2410 is the first generally available switch with native 25 Gigabit Ethernet ports that is able to connect 25GbE servers without requiring breakout cables. Powered by Mellanox’s Spectrum ASIC, the SN2410 offers tremendous throughput of 4Tb/s and with a landmark packet rate 2.98 Bpps switching capacity, all in a compact 1RU form factor. 

Another first in the Open Ethernet space, the Mellanox SN2410B switch with Cumulus Linux allows customers with 10GbE-attached servers to benefit from high capacity 100GbE inter-switch connectivity. By providing 2.5 times the bandwidth per uplink compared to traditional 10/40GbE switches, the SN2410B reduces cable complexity and facilitates significant cost savings by requiring 2.5 times fewer cables, transceivers, and aggregation (spine) switch ports. This high-speed switch is extremely affordable, with an MSRP that is half the cost of other 10/100 Gigabit Ethernet switch offerings. 

The Ethernet switch product portfolio, with the Mellanox Spectrum ASIC, are the only ultra-low latency switches that offer 10, 25, 50, or 100GbE speeds. The Cumulus Linux 3.1 release includes several new data centre networking features, including Layer 3 multicast and congestion notification, that will convey ultra-low latency 25 and 100 Gigabit Ethernet into markets previously unserved by this class of high-performance switches. These features offer significant improvements for the media and entertainment industry where 4K and 8K video feeds are fast becoming the norm. This is also important for networks within the financial community who have the most to gain by leveraging the lowest latency in the market. 

Mellanox switches supported by Cumulus Linux 3.1 include the 100GbE SN2100 and SN2700; 40GbE SN2100B and SN2700B; 25G/100GbE SN2410 and 10G/ 100GbE SN2410B switches – all of which deliver full line rate zero packet loss solutions. 

“Our African customers are fast tracking their adoption of open networking, and this announcement is set to help them further achieve value-added, end to end, web-scale IT efficiencies for their businesses,” says Anton Jacobsz, managing director at Networks Unlimited.